NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand, Feb 10 (Reuters) – Mourners left flowers and written messages in front of the Terminal 21 shopping centre in northeastern Thailand on Monday, a day after the end of a disgruntled soldier’s shooting rampage that killed at least 29 people.
On Monday, a woman held a bouquet aloft, hands folded in prayer outside the mall in Nakhon Ratchasima city as others signed cards and offered comfort to each other.
A candlelight vigil was held on Sunday night as Buddhist monks led prayers and people laid down white flowers in memory of the victims of the attacker, who hit four locations around the city.
“You have this rage, it fills you,” said local resident Chirathip Kurapakorn at the vigil.
“It just happened right here in our hometown behind us, like right in our heart of everything. It’s just tragic.”
Many of those killed in the weekend attack were at the shopping centre, the last stop for the soldier, who held out against an overnight siege with weapons stolen from his army base before being shot dead by security forces on Sunday.
The soldier, angry over a real estate deal gone awry, began his rampage by killing his commanding officer at a private home on Saturday afternoon.
He then moved on to his military base, where he killed a guard and stole high-powered weapons and ammunition from the armoury, and then fled in a stolen Humvee to a Buddhist temple, where he killed nine people before driving to the Terminal 21 mall.
At least 29 were killed and 57 wounded across all the locations.
